This past week, the world’s first specialized treatment center for crypto addicts opened its doors in Scotland.
Castle Craig Hospital, located amidst the quaint and picturesque Scottish county of Peeblesshire, is the unlikely background for an emerging behavioral pattern that, though spawned out of an inherently modern issue, is deeply rooted in a centuries-old human trait: addiction.
Castle Craig is the largest addiction treatment center in the UK. Over 10,000 patients have undergone therapy there since the facility first opened its doors back in 1988. Drinking issues, gambling, drugs, internet gaming, the staff have seen it all.
But recently, a new type of patient has been seeking treatment and solace at the facility.
The advent of cryptocurrencies brought on a systemic shift to the financial world, challenging fiat money for supremacy. The battle between these two mighty foes rages on, but the adoption and trading of digital currencies have created a number of unintended consequences that not even the fabled Satoshi Nakamoto entity could have anticipated.
The nature of addiction
Addictive behavior is as much physiological as it is psychological. In other words, addiction patterns, be it to a drug, an emotion, or an activity, have both a physical and a mental component.
The addict sees the rewarding effects of his or her addiction as a compelling incentive to do it all over again, so the cycle never ends unless help is given.
There’s often a correlation between mental health and addiction. The latter is usually perceived as a ‘solution’, as escapism from whatever condition one might suffer.
Crypto-addiction and compulsive trading
Addiction knows of no boundaries in terms of race, personality type, or socio-economic upbringing. The substance or behavior may differ among distinct strata of society, but the underlying mechanism is identical.
Addiction impairs control over usage of the substance or activity that causes the compulsion.
Cryptocurrencies have become the addiction of choice for a number of people, who
compulsively trade them, monitor their price fluctuations, and go as far as selling assets and taking loans to invest in more digital currencies. The fluctuating nature of cryptocurrencies appeals to those prone to develop addictive patterns. With its high-risk, high-gains appeal, digital money is inherently a high-risk proposition, and prime to become addictive for those predisposed to such behavior.
Experts in the field of addiction see this new condition as a subset of gambling, where individuals feel compelled to try one more time, always hoping to hit the jackpot to recoup their ever-mounting losses.
If you have ever thought that you have suffered from a crypto-addiction problem, you probably do. If you find yourself constantly checking websites for the latest price variations, or feeling the compulsion to think about trading currencies while going about your daily life, it is time you seek help.
Because crypto-addiction bears more than passing similarities to the internationally recognized Gambling Disorder, it can be diagnosed and treated with relatively straightforward ease.
Conclusion
Addiction is usually bad news for the sufferer and those around them, because of the financial, social, and psychological implications.
Crypto-addiction is a sign of the times, a 21st-century problem born out of human traits like greed and envy.
Recognition of a problem’s existence is the first step towards recovery, and now the medical profession is taking a serious look at the crypto-world, which can only be a positive development.
